I realized while I have my books up on the website, I’ve not really shared anything about the things I’ve published in the blog, so time to fix that! (This series doesn’t include single work contributions, like zines, that’ll be a separate post series)
One thing I have always wanted to do was illustrate a children’s book, and Bug Band Jamboree was a joy to work on,
“Jug band jamborees started long ago in the mountains of Tennessee. Musicians gathered in the moonlight to make joyful noise on washtubs, washboards, kazoos, banjos, tambourines, and drums. Bug Band Jamboree follows the musical adventure of one such band, Wilhelmina Jean and the Thumpers. Bug Band Jamboree captures the loose, foot-stomping rhyme scheme and lyrics of traditional American jug band music. Readers will love the exuberant pace and delight in the folksy atmosphere of the Deep South. This is a lively, lyrical story about the power of music and the power of compromise.
This project was done entirely in my old way of doing things: sketching and inking on paper, then scanning into color in photoshop and rendering with layers of texture overlays. I still love the cartoonish style of the characters and the darker colors. I found it a challenge to express the setting as night and keep everything friendly and colorful, but I think I hit a nice balance. It was also an exercise in drawing instruments and characters on a stage. Hahaha.
MaeganCookCreates 